The Great Path - Oshorajneesh.com

CHAPTER 5. THE KNOWLEDGE THAT IS SELF KNOWLEDGE
Their irritability becomes more and more because as they get older people stop noticing them. In
fact they are simply waiting for his departure.
Mulla Nasruddin was a hundred years old. I asked him if he could tell me why God had granted
him such a long life. Without batting an eyelash the Mulla replied, ”He is only testing the family’s
patience.”
All old people are testing the patience of their family They are watching all the time that the relatives
are paying less and less attention to them. The death will destroy them. The death will destroy them
much later, the inattention of the relatives kills them much earlier. Hence the irritability.
You cannot imagine how irritable Richard Nixon must right now. All those people who wanted nothing
more than a glance from him have now turned their backs on him. Those who were nears and dears
have become strangers. Friends are become enemies. These who supported him, withdrew their
support. Nixon is perturbed, perplexed, restless. The first question he asks of anyone is, ”Wasn’t
what I did right? What are people saying about me?”
Just recently he was at the height of his power, and suddenly he was thrown deep into oblivion. He
is the same man before. The only difference is: he was at the peak of his ego’s glory, now he is
thrown into the ditch but the soul remains untouched. If he could remember that which has neither
peak nor valley; for which there is no victory or defeat, which is not bothered whether people look at
him or turn away, which is devoid of all change and is uniform.
You will experience this uniformity only when you stop looking to others for recognition. Drop this
beggar-like attitude. What will you gain by attaining powers? People will call you a miraculous man
millions of people will come to you. By attracting a millions of idiots you will prove that you are the
center of attention of millions of idiots: you are super idiots!
What will you gain from the praises of the ignorant? In what way you are benefit by the appreciation
of the ignorant? What is their praise worth? What is the advantage in being the leader of those who
have already gone astray?
I have heard: There was a Sufi saint, Farid. If people clapped when he spoke he would cry. One day
hid disciples asked him the significance of his tears. Farid said, ”When they clap I know at once that
I have made some mistake, otherwise they would never clap. Then, when they do not clap I know
that they have not understood me. Then I know that whatever I said was right.”
What is the applause of misguided people worth? Before whom do you want to prove yourself? If you
want to be acclaimed as one who has arrived by the world, you are still looking for the recognition of
fools. You yourself are a fool. If you want to prove yours powers in front of god and be recognized by
Him, you are a greater fool, because the ego has no place before God. You have to be exceedingly
humble. You will be accepted there only if you have completely annihilated the ego. If you reach
there with your arrogance, it in itself is a great obstacle.
Therefore the so-called siddhas, those who possess the powers, never reached God. They acquire
many powers but they miss the real power. Self-realization is the genuine power. Why do they
miss? Because occult powers are also oriented towards the other. Would you crave these powers if
The Great Path 96 Osho